Frolic in the Snow

The photos I’m sharing here today – and Rick New's accompanying video that you can find on Facebook – serve as a great reminder to me that the best way to approach winter is with joy.

Our giant snowstorm fizzled, but the snow-covered landscape is a stark reminder that despite a relatively benign December and early January, we are in the teeth of winter now, and spring is a couple of months away.

I struggle getting around like everyone else. But whenever I find myself complaining, I try to remember how snowy weather felt before my life got so complicated. That brings me to these dogs, my golden retriever Gracie and her friend Louie.

Both are a bit over a year old, which means they have energy to spare. Louie, an English sheepdog who is a month older and still bigger, was one of the first dogs Gracie met. I still remember her as a very young puppy, putting her paws up on him and trying to get to his eye level. She’s loved him ever since.

I eventually began bringing her down to Louie’s yard most weekends so they could play. It’s reached the point where she torments me in the morning as I’m trying to drink my coffee and read the paper, and Louie waits by his sliding door, gazing into the yard for her arrival.

Gracie and Louie

Rick New

Gracie and Louie

Gracie and Louie (Rick New)

Their playtime mostly consists of chasing each other around and lots of barking (Louie)and scary faces (Gracie) as they knock each other down and mock-bite each other. They both emerge very tired and covered with slobber, which in recent weeks has been icy. Gracie was clinking a few times on the way home.

Still, I’ve never seen them quite as wild as they were last weekend in the wake of Friday night’s snowstorm. Both of them love the snow, and the chance to run and roll around in it seemed to multiply their joy.

Little children are the same way. For them, a snowstorm is a time of wonder, not of stewing over how slippery the roads will be or how we’ll ever get this driveway shoveled. I envy them.

Gracie and Louie

Rick New

Gracie and Louie

Gracie and Louie (Rick New)

So if you’re sick of winter already, don’t mope. Go outside and have some fun. Make snow angels. Take a nature walk. Throw snowballs.